The Bhadanaka Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

that included the

Rewari Rewari is a city and a Municipal Council in Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. King of Rewari is Rao Onkar Singh.It is located in south-west Haryana around 82 km from Delhi

Bhiwani Bhiwani is a city and a municipal council in Bhiwani district in the state of Haryana, Bhiwani was also known as "Gate of Rajputana". Besides being a seat of spiritual learning, the city is at the centre of regional politics and hometown of t ...

Mahendragarh Mahendragarh is a city and a municipal committee in Mahendragarh district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is from Gurgaon and comes under National Capital Region (India). Etymology Earlier named ''kanaud'', in early 1860s it was renamed ...

regions of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

and parts of

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar district, Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

during the 11th and 12th centuries. The kingdom of the Bhadanakas was probably bounded on the south-east by the Kachchhapaghat land and the Chambal river, on the north-east by the kingdom of

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

and the

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

river.

History and origin

Origin

Historian's including Dasharatha Sharma agree on an opinion that they were from

Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

caste.

Conflict with Chauhans

In the second half of the 12th century, the Bhadanakas had a political struggle with the Chauhans of Shakumbhari. Chauhan was inspired by the spirit of Digvijaya and wanted to build an empire in North India. The Chauhans attacked Bhadanakas at least twice. We get to know about the first attack on Bhadanaka from the 'Bijolia inscription' of Chauhan king Someshwar of 1169 AD. There was a fierce battle between the Chauhans and the Bhadanakas, but this war could not prove to be decisive, although the Chauhans have claimed their victory in the Bijolia inscription.

Territory

Scholar Siddhasain Suri has described the region of Bhadanaka country, situated between

and Harshapur (Haras in Shekhawati). He mentions Kamagga (Kaman, forty miles west of

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

) and Siroha (near

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

) as sacred Jain sites of Bhadanaka country. Apart from these, Tejpal, the author of Apabhramsa Manuscript "Sambhavnath Charit", has described the city of Sripath situated in Bhadanaka country. According to historian

Dasharatha Sharma Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) was an Indologist with particular interest in the history of the Rajasthan region of India. Born in the Rajasthani city of Churu, he studied in the city of Bikaner and at the University of Delhi. He had degrees ...

, this city was the capital of this state. This town of Shripath (santipur) is identified with modern

Bayana Bayana is a historical town and the headquarters of Bayana tehsil in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan in India. Hindaun City is nearest city of Bayana - 33 km. It was the site of famous Important Battle of Bayana in 1527 between the Rajput ...

. According to 3 historians, Bhadanaka has been called Bhayanaya in the pre-medieval Apabhramsa language, and the word Bayana has originated in the post-medieval period from the word Bhayanaya. In this way, the modern earnest money was the focal point of the country. The strong fort of Tahangarh (Timangarh) is situated 14 miles south of

, which was the defense cantonment of this state.

Language

Rajasekhar, the court poet of the

Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty The Gurjara-Pratihara was a dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the mid-8th to the 11th century. They ruled first at Ujjain and later at Kannauj. The Gurjara-Pratiharas were instrumental in containing Arab armies moving east of the ...

, in his book 'Kavyamimansha', has called Bhadanaka as a speaker of Apabhramsa language. The Apabhramsha is also called the Suraseni Apabhramsha, because the geographical area of the Bhadanaka Kingdom and the ancient Surasena region was almost the same. The Suraseni Apabhramsa is the mother of modern Brajbhasha.

Bibliography

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References

{{reflist Dynasties of India History of Rajasthan 11th-century establishments in India 12th-century disestablishments in India